Colobot (Colonize with Bots) is an educational,

post apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astro ...

real-time strategy video game featuring

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the ...

, created by Swiss developer Epsitec SA. The objective of the game is to find a planet for

colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...

by the human race by establishing a basic infrastructure on the surface and eliminating any

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

life forms Life form (also spelled life-form or lifeform) is an entity that is living, such as plants (flora) and animals (fauna). It is estimated that more than 99% of all species that ever existed on Earth, amounting to over five billion species, are ex ...

endangering the expedition. The game takes place on the Earth, Moon, and seven fictional planets. The main feature of the game, which makes it educational, is the possibility for players to

program Program, programme, programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program management, the process of managing several related projects * Time management * Program, a part of planning Arts and entertainment Audio * Progra ...

their robots using a programming language similar to C++ or Java.

Plot overview

Life on earth is threatened by a devastating

cataclysm Cataclysm is derived from the Greek (), 'down, against', and (), 'wash over, surge'. It may refer to: Common meanings *Generally, any large-scale disaster *Deluge (mythology) *Doomsday event, see hypothetical risks to civilization, humans, and p ...

, forcing mankind to move out and search for a new home. A first expedition composed solely of robots was sent to find another habitable planet. However, for unknown reasons, the mission was a disaster and never returned. With only a few robots for companions, the player must travel to new planets. Houston, Earth Mission Control as well as a spy satellite will transmit valuable information to the player. The player needs to build the infrastructure necessary to gather raw materials, energy supplies, and produce the weapons necessary to defend themselves. By programming robots, the player can delegate tasks to them, allowing the player to continue their mission while their robots upkeep the base, fight off enemies, harvest materials, and perform any other tasks assigned to them.

Missions

In the game, the player explores Earth, Moon and seven fictional planets.

Language overview

The programming language used in is CBOT,

syntactically In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...

similar to C++ and Java. Example code for a bot to find a piece of titanium ore and deliver it to a purification facility: extern void object::FetchTitanium()

Legacy

Epsitec released the games' source code in March 2012 under GNU GPL-3.0-or-later after being contacted by the Polish game enthusiast community PPC.Announcement on Polish Portal of Colobot
License
/ref>Updated license after PPC rebranded to ICC&TerranovaTeam
/ref> ICC & TerranovaTeam (formerly PPCRebranded Name for PPC
/ref>) was given the source code by Epsitec under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. TerranovaTeam is in the process of updating the game, titled .Colobot: Gold Edition README
/ref>

Similar games

''CeeBot'', also made by Epsitec, is a very similar series of games spanning four titles: *''CeeBot-A'' – an expansion of Colobot's Exercises & Challenges. *''CeeBot-Teen'' – geared to and simplified for a younger audience. Has basic programming exercises. *''CeeBot3'' – a program-to-paint programming course that allows students to make drawings and animations. *''CeeBot4'' – a major programming course for college students and audiences in the programming field.

Reception

The game has been recommended by the Polish Ministry of National Education as a teaching aid for learning the basics of algorithms and object-oriented programming.Educational aids - site of Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Poland

External links

Epsitec Colobot webpageColobot: Gold Edition website
- International Colobot Community *

References

{{Reflist, 30em 2001 video games Open-source video games Strategy video games Programming games Video games about robots Windows-only games Commercial video games with freely available source code Video games developed in Switzerland